How to set buffer size on mac?

[Patrice Brousseau]

Used this low latency kext since I bought my two Focusrite: 2i2 and 18i20 2nd gens. If not using this, latency is way too high for me (Reaper). However, I use a Roland Octacapture on my MBP for JK and latency is around 7.4ms on Mac and 5 something in BootCamp Win10.

No wonder I use JK on the Win side.

I'm looking now for the Motu M4 but don't really need it! GAS!

[nfraser52@gmail.com]

Hi I have FOCUSRITE Solo 

On WIndows 10 using ASIO driver Zero Audio Latency 

On Macbook Pro 13 using Catalina best is 8.7 even after down loading the "low latency" fix from Focusrite

There is not way to by pass Core Audio on the Mac , in the W10 machine I am using the ASIO driver with 2.5 frame size

Hope this helps .

[JiminSalmonArm]

as mabalot said earlier "Mac users can change their frame size in JK. Go to Manage (at the top left corner in the app) - Audio Setting - Audio Booster then change your frame size to 1ms experimental."
The "Manage" tool is in the very top left corner of the JK app - it is there in both Mac and Windows versions
The Audio Frame Size is similar to setting the audio buffer size.
We have been using this with our quartet - me on Mac and the others on Windows.
I can lower the Frame Size to the 1 ms experimental setting and get a 6.8ms audio latency using a Behringer UMC404HD on my 2012 MacBookPro running OSX 10.11.6  (the default Frame Size was 2.5ms  and gave an audio latency of 9.8)
The problem with the lower Frame (buffer) size is that it can increase the jitter to unacceptable levels - the audio is garbled and has pops and clicks - I am the only one who can use the 1ms experimental frame size successfully.

One of our members uses a new Scarlet 2i2 - JK shows him as zero audio latency - he found a reference that the Scarlet interface somehow interferes with JK measurement of audio latency and thus it returns a zero value - so the zero might not be true.

That has been our experience - hope it might help

[Doug N.]

Does the frame size setting apply to the data transfer between both the audio interface/computer(JK) and the data sent out over the Internet? Or do we have no control over the Internet frame/buffer size?

[JiminSalmonArm]

Does the frame size setting apply to the data transfer between both the audio interface/computer(JK) and the data sent out over the Internet? Or do we have no control over the Internet frame/buffer size?

This current discussion has been about the AUDIO Frame size - as set via  Manage-Audio Settings-Audio Booster.  This controls the audio frame size (somehow related to audio buffer size) for the USB audio interface.  In our quartet, changing this audio frame size can make a large difference in the Audio latency that JamKazam reports during the session.  It does not make any difference to the internet latency reported.  There is a thread in the forum "Help with Network Gear" that is discussing changing the internet settings (packet size) - but I haven't played with this yet

[Zlartibartfast]

One of our members uses a new Scarlet 2i2 - JK shows him as zero audio latency - he found a reference that the Scarlet interface somehow interferes with JK measurement of audio latency and thus it returns a zero value - so the zero might not be true.

That has been our experience - hope it might help

Yes you are correct there is no such thing as "zero latency" in the world of silicon logic, so any test that reports that result is invalid.
My friend using Win10 and a Scarlett 2i2 sees that "0" value reported in our sessions using ASIO drivers.

Using a Saffire Pro firewire interface I get a reliable 3.4 ms test result w/no jitter, no dropout, running Mac OS 10.11 on a 2012 MBP 13", with the default settings on the latest JK client.

It's true that Mac users cannot change their buffer size but most of the time it doesn't matter - the defaults are good.

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Does the frame size setting apply to the data transfer between both the audio interface/computer(JK) and the data sent out over the Internet? Or do we have no control over the Internet frame/buffer size?

Don't change your network packet frame size, unless you want to leave the internet behind.

Your buffer(s) are in your computer OS, your LAN adapter, your switch (if you have one), your router, and whatever you have for a modem. I don't recommend digging into those areas, unless you like spending days re-engineering your networks.

Better to make sure you have good cables (no kinks, no cracks, no slits, etc)

[JiminSalmonArm]

Used this low latency kext since I bought my two Focusrite: 2i2 and 18i20 2nd gens. If not using this, latency is way too high for me (Reaper). However, I use a Roland Octacapture on my MBP for JK and latency is around 7.4ms on Mac and 5 something in BootCamp Win10.

No wonder I use JK on the Win side.

I'm looking now for the Motu M4 but don't really need it! GAS!

Hey Patrice - great piece of info that on the SAME hardware, the latency on the Mac side (even with the low latency patch) is larger than on the Win10 side using BootCamp.  Did you have the Audio Frame Rate set to the 1.0ms experimental  setting on both?

[rlyacht]

For me it's grayed out, but I see from another thread that one has to be in a session.

[ecoware]

I just was searching the Focusrite website support area, and found this article:
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/a...ces-on-Mac
In it, you will find a link to a driver you can install to lower latency. I just installed it, and my latency went from 10.4ms down to 7.8ms, which puts me in the green zone on JamKazam. Not sure if this will help enough if your latency is up around 20ms, but it's worth a try.
Also, I am using Ableton Live 10 Lite, and I have lowered my buffer size setting to 64 samples to help speed things up.
Hope this all helps.

BigStu ! ..... thanks so much for the link.  I too decreased my latency from 11.4 to 7.8.... in the "Green" and ready to rock !
Thanks again !

[Filote]

On my Mac Pro running Mojave with a MOTU 896mk3, the Audio Frame Size selector doesn't show any values to choose from. I have 6.8ms latency, very low jitter, and sessions so far are good, so I'm not complaining; just wondering why that setting is not available.